Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

The Return: Tomorrow is Another Day

It was late afternoon on Wednesday. The sunlight danced through the window shades in the Matthews' apartment. The sounds of children laughing and sometimes fighting drifted down the stairs. Cory sat at the dining room table staring at the front door. Behind him, his wife cleaned an already spotless kitchen. They were both waiting expectantly and somewhat anxiously. A few minutes later, the apartment door opened and their former English teacher entered with a grim look on his face.

He studied them for a long moment, then shook his head. "I've looked everywhere I can think of," a despondent Turner sighed heavily, taking a seat across from the younger man. "I don't think he's in the City anymore."

"He is," Cory assured him with more confidence than he felt. "His photography stuff is still in Auggie's room. I've been checking."

The corner of Jon's mouth turned up and he raised an eyebrow. "Every five minutes?"

"Every five minutes."

Jon smiled his gratitude for the cup of coffee Topanga set in front of him. "He could leave without it, you know."

Cory shook his head resolutely. "I've also got his wallet." To prove it, he took a well-worn wallet out of his back pocket and laid it on the table.

Turner looked at him in disbelief. "You stole his wallet?"

"I did not," the social studies teacher countered. "It fell out of his pocket; I found it on the couch."

"I can't believe you stole his wallet!" Topanga smacked his shoulder as she sat down next to him.

"I didn't steal it. I found it." Cory insisted indignantly. "Anyway, finder's keepers." He made a face at his wife who made one back at him.

"Hey, Daddy." Jon felt a pair of slim arms enclosed around his shoulders. "Where've you been?" He turned his head slightly to see his fifteen-year-old daughter, Julia.

"Out lookin' for Shawn."

Her gray eyes lit up. "Shawn? The Shawn? Shawn Hunter?"

Her reaction made him smile slightly. "Yeah, the one and only."

"Oh, cool! So what happened?"

When her father didn't answer she looked to Cory for an answer. He sheepishly stared at his hands. Topanga rapidly tapped her fingers against the tabletop and finally said, "Your uncle insisted on reintroducing your father and Shawn with the nurse joke."

"Oh, no!" Julia groaned. She wrinkled her nose in disdain. "That joke's the worst! Even Mom hates it!"

"I know, I know," Jon lifted his hands in surrender. "Consider it permanently retired!"

"So," Julia dug her chin into her dad's shoulder as she pulled her dark hair over her shoulder and his. "Am l ever going to get to meet him?"

Jon sighed. She'd been asking that same question since she was three. "I don't know, Jules. I can't get him to meet with me."

The brunette looked up. "Aunt Topanga, can't you do anything about this?"

Topanga appreciated Julia's faith in her ability to make everything better and hated to let her down. She regretfully shook her head. "I would if I could, honey. But it's just not that easy. Your brother's going through a hard time right now."

Julia frown in annoyance. Shawn was always going through a hard time it seemed to her. She had been told about her older brother since birth. The brother her dad had done so much for. He never missed a gallery showing her brother did no matter the location. He would drop everything to take a call from Shawn; a call that always ended up with him frustrated and sad. He always sent birthday and Christmas cards and gifts to his last address or would just leave them with Uncle Cory since Shawn would visit him. This brother who couldn't be bothered to see her dad even once when he was in the City but made time for everyone else it seemed. Intense dislike bubbled up within Julia. Some brother.